TOWARD SUSTAINABLE SMART CITIES: CONCEPTS & CHALLENGES

The world’s urban population is growing enormously, increasing of energy usage, air toxicity, and traffic congestion in urban areas which need a furthermost effective way for solutions. Smart city as a solution is expected to solve the functionality of urban systems. It needs to improve ICT infrastructure as an authoritative, adaptable, accessible, secure, and flexible one, and improve the quality of daily lifetime, refine citizen’s healthiness as well to achieve economic growth and develop the physical infrastructure services to promote sustainable development. This research is a narrative review, kind of methodological approach presented as open research and structured as follows: First section presents the smart city concept by reviewing the definitions, characteristics, and its dimensions. Based on the creation of smart cities, the research aims to identify and investigate the main challenges that smart cities development will face in the coming years by analysing, estimating, and evaluating the available data. It also includes a various assortment of challenges classified under; infrastructure challenges, theoretical, urban design, interdisciplinary, hackers challenges, urban land use, disability of the elderly challenges, the Big Data, technology trap, cultural and democracy challenges, budgetary and cost constraints, and regulations challenges. Besides, it is important to be conscious of security and privacy risks when implementing new systems. One example specifically discussed, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia smart city practices, provides a general overview of the Saudi Vision 2030. It is enlightened by a brief about “the most recent smart city project in Saudi Arabia”, NEOM and illustrates the smart city practices of Makkah, in the light of the six dimensions of the smart city, also studied the city of Amsterdam as it considered one of the first smart cities at the global level. Finally, the research ends with the conclusions and recommendations

Electronic Democracy and Digital Justice: Driving Principles for AI Regulation in the Prism of Human Rights

A growing debate in several European fora is paving the way for future rules for Artificial Intelligence (AI). A principles-based approach prevails, with various lists of principles drawn up in recent years. These lists, which are often built on human rights, are only a starting point for a future regulation. It is now necessary to move forward, turning abstract principles into a context-based response to the challenges of AI. This article therefore places the principles and operational rules of the current European and international human rights framework in the context of AI applications in two core, and little explored, areas of digital transformation: electronic democracy and digital justice. Several binding and non-binding legal instruments are available for each of these areas, but they were adopted in a pre-AI era, which affects their effectiveness in providing an adequate and specific response to the challenges of AI. Although the existing guiding principles remain valid, their application should therefore be reconsidered in the light of the social and technical changes induced by AI. To contribute to the ongoing debate on future AI regulation, this article outlines a contextualised application of the principles governing e-democracy and digital justice in view of current and future AI applications

Personvernutfordringer ved bruk av stordata i norsk offentlig sektor

Masteroppgave informasjonssystemer IS501 - Universitetet i Agder 2018Formålet med denne studien har vært å finne ut hvordan norsk offentlig sektor jobber med personvern tilknyttet stordata, og hvilke personvernutfordringer som oppstår. Vi har derfor utledet forskningsspørsmålet: “Hvilke personvernutfordringer oppstår ved bruk av stordata i norsk offentlig sektor?” Studien er gjennomført hos organisasjonene Skatteetaten, NAV, og SSB, der vi har fått innblikk i de ulike stordata-prosjektene de arbeider med. Vi har utført en kvalitativ case-studie med 14 semi-strukturerte intervjuer gjennomført høsten 2017 og våren 2018. Vi har også intervjuet Datatilsynet for å få innblikk hva de ser på som personvernutfordringer ved bruk av stordata. Gjennom studien finner vi at den offentlige sektor ser store muligheter i bruk av stordata for effektivisering, statistikkformål og forbedring av tjenester. Prosjektene som utarbeides nå er fremdeles i startgropen, der det jobbes med å avdekke potensielle personvernutfordringer. Vi ønsker å trekke frem noen sentrale utfordringer som går igjen hos organisasjonene, og blir sett på som spesielt viktige. ● Utilstrekkelige anonymiseringsteknikker som utgjør en fare for re-identifisering ved kobling av datasett. ● Sikring av tilgangskontroll og trygg lagring som sørger for at sensitiv informasjon beskyttes. ● Utfordringer knyttet til personvernprinsippene om dataminimering, formålsbegrensning og samtykke. ● Fare for bias og profilering ved feilaktige modeller og dårlig datakvalitet. Offentlig sektor samler inn mye personsensitiv informasjon som utgjør en trussel for norske innbyggeres personvern hvis denne informasjonen misbrukes. Offentlige organisasjoner har ofte hjemmel til å samle inn flere personopplysninger enn det private organisasjoner har lov til. Oppgaven konkluderer med at det er viktig at offentlig sektor tar disse utfordringene på alvor, for å sikre tillit til oss som brukere av deres tjenester. Stordata bringer nye personvernutfordringer, og det er viktig at organisasjonene finner de beste metodene for å håndtere innsamling, lagring og analyse av stordata. I praksis bidrar studien til å gi innsikt og bevisstgjøring om de personvernutfordringene offentlig sektor står overfor i sin videre utvikling av stordata-prosjekter. I teoretisk sammenheng kan studien bedre akademias forståelse av personvernutfordringer innenfor bruk av stordata i offentlig sektor

Management decision making in the age of big data : an exploration of the roles of analytics and human judgment : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Management at Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand

This thesis explores the effects of data analytics and human judgment on management decision making in an increasingly data-driven environment. In recent years, the topics of big data and advanced analytics have gained traction and wide-spread interest among practitioners and academics. Today, big data is considered a buzzword by some and an essential prerequisite for future business success by others. Recent research highlights the potential of big data analytics for decision making, but also points out critical challenges and risks. The aim of this research is to take an in-depth look at management decision making by using qualitative case studies and critical incidents to carefully examine managers' decision-making processes. This exploration evolves around the two main research questions: i) How do managers perceive the role of advanced analytics and big data in the decision-making process? ii) How do managers perceive the alignment of advanced analytics and big data with more traditional decision-making approaches such as human judgment? The content and thematic analyses of data from 25 semi-structured interviews with managers, executives, and business analysts from nine organizations provided several key insights. Managers were found to rely on data and human judgment in their decision making to varying extents and in different roles. The processes followed by the decision makers depended on the decisions at hand, the managers’ characteristics and preferences, as well as environmental factors. The findings empirically support the development of an ecological systems framework, which provides a holistic picture of managerial decision making in the age of big data. The study contributes by applying the dual process theory to the context of data-driven decision making. Practical implications for organizations are derived from the findings and identify organizational considerations and prerequisites. The influence of the managers’ environments on decision making emphasizes the organizations’ need to utilize a holistic approach when adopting a data-driven decision-making culture

A conceptualisation of a governance model for biobanks in the digital society

Biobanks are key infrastructures in data-driven biomedical research. The counterpoint of this optimistic vision is the reality of biobank governance, which must address various ethical, legal and social issues, especially in terms of open consent, privacy and secondary uses which, if not sufficiently resolved, may undermine participants’ and society’s trust in biobanking. The effect of the digital paradigm on biomedical research has only accentuated these issues by adding new pressure for the data protection of biobank participants against the risks of covert discrimination, abuse of power against individuals and groups, and critical commercial uses. Moreover, the traditional research-ethics framework has been unable to keep pace with the transformative developments of the digital era, and has proven inadequate in protecting biobank participants and providing guidance for ethical practices. To this must be added the challenge of an increased tendency towards exploitation and the commercialisation of personal data in the field of biomedical research, which may undermine the altruistic and solidaristic values associated with biobank participation and risk losing alignment with societal interests in biobanking. My research critically analyses, from a bioethical perspective, the challenges and the goals of biobank governance in data-driven biomedical research in order to understand the conditions for the implementation of a governance model that can foster biomedical research and innovation, while ensuring adequate protection for biobank participants and an alignment of biobank procedures and policies with society’s interests and expectations. The main outcome is a conceptualisation of a socially-oriented and participatory model of biobanks by proposing a new ethical framework that relies on the principles of transparency, data protection and participation to tackle the key challenges of biobanks in the digital age and that is well-suited to foster these goals

BIG DATA IN HEALTH IOE IN EMERGENCY SITUATIONS: BETWEEN THE RIGHT TO PRIVACY AND DIGITAL HEALTH INNOV A TION

The unprecedented use of digital technologies in healthcare in the past five years in Europe has led to increased concerns regarding individual privacy and data protection. The increased use of digital health technologies in the past three years on the European continent due to the Covid-19 pandemic has exasperated these concerns, especially considering the processing and management of personal and sensitive data by public authorities in various Member States. These concerns raised a question on how individual and group privacy and related data protection rights can be adequately ensured in sensitive healthcare situations, such as a public healthcare crisis. The chapters of the thesis pursue an answer to this question, focusing on a limited variety of selected themes in EU privacy and data protection law. Chapter 1 sets out the general introduction on the research topic. Chapter 2 touches upon the methodology used in the research. Chapter 3 conceptualises the basic notions from a legal standpoint. Chapter 4 examines the current regulatory regime applicable to digital health technologies, healthcare emergencies, privacy, and data protection. Chapter 5 provides case studies on the application deployed in the Covid-19 scenario, from the perspective of privacy and data protection. Chapter 6 addresses the post-Covid European regulatory initiatives on the subject matter, and its potential effects on privacy and data protection. Chapter 7 is the outcome of a six-month internship with a company in Italy and focuses on the protection of the fundamental rights through common standardisation and certification, demonstrating that such standards can serve as supporting tools to guarantee the right to privacy and data protection in digital health technologies. The thesis concludes with the observation that finding and transposing the European privacy and data protection standards into scenarios, such as public healthcare emergencies where digital health technologies are deployed, requires rapid co-ordination between the European Data Protection Authorities and the Member States to guarantee that individual privacy and data protection rights are ensured. It observed that with the introduction of AI-based digital health technologies, the protection of the fundamental rights to privacy and data protection will remain a topical subject, with the need to work on harmonising different applicable regulatory regimes to ensure regulatory clarity

Data protection in a big data society. Ideas for a future regulation

Big data society has changed the traditional forms of data analysis and created a new predictive approach to knowledge and investigation. In this light, it is necessary to consider the impact of this new paradigm on the traditional notion of data protection and its regulation. Focussing on the individual and communal dimension of data use, encompassing digital investigations, the authors outline the challenges that big data poses for individual information self-determination, reasonable suspicion and collective interests. Therefore, the article suggests some innovative proposals that may update the existing data protection legal framework and contribute to make it respondent to the present algorithmic society